THE KURDISH CENTRE FOR STUDIES -

July 19, 2024, marks the twelfth anniversary of the Rojava Revolution. Two years ago, on the tenth anniversary, I was asked by Hawar News Agency to give my thoughts on the occasion and what it signified for the world, based on my trips to the region. My time in Rojava (north and east Syria) witnessed […]

A Greek film-maker’s detention at the UK border under a controversial and little-known anti-terror power has raised concerns about both the increasing targeting of Left-wing journalists by UK police and the continued persecution and harassment of activists, volunteers, and community figures in and around the Kurdish political movement. Both groups face distinct but related challenges, […]

Statelet of Survivors: The Making of a Semi-Autonomous Region in Northeast Syria, a new book-length look at the establishment, evolution, and achievements of the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) by academic Dr. Amy Austin Holmes, takes up two important challenges. First, Holmes’ observations based on hundreds of interviews conducted throughout North and […]

One cannot separate sports from politics. Though we like to believe football games are neutral apolitical spectacles, they are intertwined within a larger socio-political context that is inescapable (as all Kurdish fans of Amedspor are well aware). This past week, that notion was on full display, igniting a wider debate about the line between where […]

Burning down forests so you can build castles upon the ashes sounds like an ancient moral parable about the pitfalls of rapaciousness, not a modern occupation strategy by the second largest military in NATO. The recent massive wildfires that ravaged Northern Kurdistan / Bakur (southeast Turkey) between Amed and Mêrdîn killed 15 people and left […]

We are now living in a world where ethnic cleansing and war crimes have become the order of the day, where human rights and international law no longer matter, and where the so-called “global order” turns a blind eye towards injustices committed by powerful nations when it suits their geopolitical interests. In a series of […]

The defiant city of Şirnex (Şırnak) in occupied Northern Kurdistan (southeast Turkey) has always been a thorn in the side of the Turkish Republic and their desire to assimilate the Kurdish people. Figuratively, if Dersim (Tunceli) is the ‘brain’, and Amed (Diyarbakır) is the ‘body’, then Şirnex would be the ‘heart’ of Bakur. Taking its […]

On April 23rd, 2024, around 200 armed Belgian federal police officers amassed at 1 a.m. in the town of Denderleeuw, in East Flanders (Belgium). Anyone observing this massive show of force and the militarized posture of the small army that was preparing for a nighttime siege, would have assumed they were about to storm an […]

The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) recently released their 2024 Annual Report on May 1st, underscoring that the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), supported by its Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), continues “to highlight religious freedom as a governing principle.” This is in stark contrast to religious freedom conditions in […]

On April 24, 2024, the University of Rojava (founded in 2016) held its fourth Freedom Annual Lecture Series. The lecture, featuring the distinguished Kurdish historian Professor Hamit Bozarslan, Director of the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris, France, was entitled: “Reflections on Anti-Democracy and War in the 21st Century.” With regards […]